Create garden color the artist’s way

By Jennifer ForkerAssociated Press

May 4, 2013

Berkeley, Calif., landscape architect Jeni Webber created a floral wreath that resembles a color wheel. Long used by artists, a color wheel helps gardeners see the relationships colors have to one another and plant accordingly. - Associated Press

Long a companion for artists, the color wheel also can be a handy tool for gardeners.

Gardening author Sydney Eddison created a wheel that has 252 colors instead of the usual 12. That’s because nature doesn’t work with a limited palette, she says.

“In nature you have already been dealt this hand. You only have to learn how to play it,” she says.

Even all of the tints, shades and tones in Eddison’s “The Gardener’s Color Wheel” don’t capture the diversity of what’s really growing out there. But she says it’s a good way to start seeing colors in the garden and how they relate to each other.

An incompatible color scheme can be softened by incorporating more soothing green foliage. In particular, gray and gray-green foliage helps blend colors.

Meanwhile, a little white goes a long way in the garden, warns Eddison.

“It is the lightest and brightest and most eye-catching color in the garden,” she says. “It requires special handling.”

White works well with individual colors or combined with pastels. Low-growing white flowers, such as the tickseed plant “Star Cluster” Coreopsis, when spread throughout a garden can help the eye scan its surroundings.

Flowers come and go, but foliage often remains year-round, so plan it carefully, says Webber. She likes orange foliage, a relative newcomer, and mentions the perennial Heuchera Marmalade, a variety of coral bells.

Instead of hard and fast rules, Webber trusts her eyes to know when two plant colors clash: A bad combination hurts. “If I’m cheating and putting colors together that don’t go well together, I’ll see how my eyes are feeling,” she says.

Over decades of experimenting with color, Eddison also has found that rules can only get a gardener so far.

“As much as following the rules works, ditch them to follow your heart and soul,” she says.

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